Manhattan Beach Music Group Holds School Board Candidate Event

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA — The Manhattan Beach community will have another opportunity to hear from all four candidates vying for two open seats on the Manhattan Beach Unified School District school board tonight when the MB Music Coalition holds a Virtual Town Hall beginning at 6 p.m.

The relatively new MB Music Coalition was formed in February by a group of parents who were concerned about the proposed budget cuts to the music programs in the Manhattan Beach Unified School District. "Even before COVID, serious cuts were made to the elementary music program, and those cuts were sadly not rescinded prior to the start of school," Carolyn Mukai of the MB Music Coalition told Manhattan Beach Patch. She said music education is instrumental in a child's development due to "neuroscience. Decades of studies on music and the brain confirm that learning music makes crucial changes to the microstructures in the human brain," she explained.

Once the budget cuts were proposed, the parents involved in the grassroots effort to form MB Music Coalition, "consulted a national expert, and with the help of his Report of the Status of Music in MBUSD as well as an outpouring of community voices in support of the Music Program, the school board created a Music Subcommittee.

"We are extremely grateful for the board's actions in forming the subcommittee, and for being concerned about both the current state, and long-term viability, of this program that is such a source of community pride," she said.

Manhattan Beach resident Anthony Salvaggio will moderate the live Town Hall tonight and the event will present questions beyond the realm of music education. Said Mukai, "We believe that what happens at the school board affects every student, every day. Part of our mission is to preserve the opportunity for all students to have an excellent music education, to engage with those who make decisions affecting the program, and to create a student-centered framework designed to ensure student success in their creative endeavors.

"Of course, we can't accomplish those things if we don't have good working relationships with the people who make the decisions — the board members. So it mattered to us to find out about the four candidates. At the same time, we don't see it as our role to tell others who to vote for, but rather to share information so each person can make an informed choice that comports with their personal views and values. An open forum town hall seemed the best way to bring the community together to ask important questions, and hear what the candidates have to say," said Mukai.

The Town Hall will be conducted using a zoom webinar format [register at tinyurl.com/townhalloct8], and will also live-stream to YouTube on the MB Music Coalition channel. After brief opening statements, the candidates will be asked a series of questions — some longer questions, some yes/no, some short answer, said Mukai.

"We've designed the content to cover a broad range of issues, and to include the topics we hope will be interesting to the majority of voters. While we are passionate about the music program, we know voters have a wider list of interests on their minds, so the town hall itself will be general interest. After the town hall we will be asking the candidates music-specific questions in a print-style interview, and will make each candidate's responses to those questions available to the general public."

The four candidates are Jason Boxer, Mike Brunick, Cathey Graves and Heather de Roos.

Questions may be submitted in advance by emailing MBMusicCoalition@gmail.com. Information on the MB Music Coalition Town Hall tonight can be seen as a Calendar listing on Manhattan Beach Patch.